Rochester Telephone Corp has won an affirmation of its ratings from Standard & Poor’s Corp, which says it is still happy with its single-A rating on the local phone company’s $384m in senior unsecured debt. The ratings agency cited the May 17 announcement that Rochester Telephone has reached a settlement with the staff of the New York Public Service Commission on two key issues – an Open Market Plan that fundamentally changes its regulatory framework and a corporate restructuring of the company. Standard & Poor’s says it views the Open Market Plan as an innovative way to foster increased local telephone competition while providing the local company the ability to retain profits from operating efficiencies and new services. It notes that the corporate restructuring will enable Rochester Telephone to establish a holding company separate from the operating units. Existing rated debt will reside at the new holding company, and while at least $40m in new debt will be issued at the operating unit level, this should not affect the rating of existing debt, the agency added.
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